Yes, I am looking ahead.
Saw a condensed version of the Cuse game after only catching bits and pieces of it Saturday. Clemson does always have a head scratcher and only leading the Orange by six in the 3Q was a bit of a shock.
It should be noted that Syracuse had a pick six and also scored a touchdown after having a short field following a blocked punt. That was 14 of their 21 points. Cuse was however able to frustrate Clemson's offense.
Clemson's outside WRs are solid though not on the level of Higgins/Ross imo. They love the screen pass to Amari Rodgers who runs with purpose once he receives the ball. We all know about Etienne, he is in the top tier of college backs, and Lawrence can make every single throw asked of him.
They have a balanced offense, so it is impossible to sell out to stop any single phase. However I do believe ND will commit to and ultimately do a good job of slowing Etienne/Dixon down. I think that the key for ND on defense will be the play of Bracy (if he's healthy) and McCloud. We are fast as shit on defense so I think we can do an effective job of limiting the screens to Rodgers, but what ultimately concerns me the most is Lawrence getting his WRs 1 on 1 in space with our CBs. He only needs a small window to make the throws, but if McCloud/Bracy perform, I think we can seriously limit the Clemson offense. Like, to around 20ish points, unless they are gifted with some short fields.
Our offense is going to struggle big time. They will sell out to stop the run, and will have success doing so. I actually hope we give C'Bo a decent bit of burn this game. He seems to be able to pick up 3-4 yards no matter what, even if his ceiling is also 3-4 yards lol. Book's strength right now seems to be third down. Get C'Bo the ball, get Mayer the ball, get into 3rd and 5 or less, and let Book do his magic. Burn clock while doing so.
If we can win the turnover battle, we can win an ugly one. Something like 24-22
